Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for preparing a variety of quick cooking and precooked filled pasta products, such as ravioli, tortellini, manicotti, stuffed shells, dumplings and wonton by utilizing a steam injected preconditioner with an internal lubricant, a co-rotating intermesh twin screw extruder with low shear configuration and a co-extrusion die, and a stamper or cutter for forming a continuous co-extruded filled shell into pasta segments of predetermined configuration.